The 40-year-old from Swindon said he was overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the unveiling of his 2014 car at the recent Autosport International Show in Birmingham.

“I guess I was a bit nervous wondering what people would think to the design we’ve got on the car, but the reaction we had was fantastic,” said the Swindon racer.

The BTCC rookie is now counting down the days until he’s back on the track in preparation for his first season of touring car racing.

“I just want to get in the car again now and get out there testing,” he said. “It’s not about tweaking the car at the moment, for me it’s all about track time and getting adjusted to the Toyota and getting my head around all the different things with it.”

“We’re going to work hard on being in the best possible position we can when we get to Brands Hatch for the first round at the end of March. We’re in the lap of the gods really with the weather and what have you during the winter but we’ll be out testing at the start of February one way or another, whether that’s here or in Spain if we have to.”

Fully understanding and acknowledging the depth of competition in the BTCC, the Wiltshire racer is taking his graduation into touring cars one step at a time and is aiming to learn as much as possible in his debut season.

“Everyone kept asking me at the launch what my goals are for this season, what am I setting my sights on”, said Belcher, “The honest answer is, this is a learning year. It’s my first season in the BTCC and the start of a three-year programme for us. Our first goal is to score points as the season progresses, which will be hard enough with 32 cars out there, and then take it from there.”

Rounds one, two and three of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season will take place on March 29 and 30 at Brands Hatch in Kent.